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Short Subjects: Hollywood's Tiny Stars
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Teen Dies After Being Hospitalized With Flu
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CBS
Another young life is cut short, and it's believed the flu is to blame.
Walter Brooks Jr., 18, was one of the countless Marylanders unable to get the vaccine because there just isn't enough.
Adam May reports the youth's family is now trying to cope with the loss.
Walter was full of life. He was an energetic college freshman from Brooklyn Park until last Wednesday, when he was hospitalized with a suspected case of swine flu.
"Last time I talked to him, he just kept saying, 'I love you, I love you Mom.' That was before they intubated him, before they intubated him," said Denise Brooks, mother.
"It was a roller coaster ride, up, down, good, bad," said Walter Brooks, father. "He could not breathe. He was short of breath, and the virus had taken over his lungs."
"I thought my brother would make it," said Megan Brooks, sister.
The Brooks family never had a chance to get the vaccine for their children. Flu clinics across the state are turning away countless people because there isn't enough.
"It's likely to be mid-November until we see the supplies revamped up to a level we want them to be," said John Colmers, Md. Secretary of Health.
The vaccine shortage robbed Walter of his dream of becoming an actor.
"They were in drama together. They did play after play after play," said Tina Lawrence, friend's mom.
"If you needed someone to cry on their shoulder, he'd show up," said Anna Lawrence, friend.
On Tuesday, doctors amputated Walter's legs in a last ditch effort to rejuvenate his internal organs, but the surgery was unsuccessful.
"If you told me he was shot or hit by a car or in an accident, I could learn to accept that more than the flu taking him away. It just doesn't make sense how it can take a healthy 18-year-old boy with no medical condition at all," said Denise.
Students at North County High School where Walter graduated in May got a letter explaining the loss, and the school offered counseling.
"We got a couple hundred students today, about 60 at any one time, in and out of the centers that were set up," said Bob Mosier, Anne Arundel Co. Public Schools.
"I went to the graduation last year, and you know, it's just so sad that five months later like it's just the start of his life, and he's gone," said Violetta Voronina, student.
"He was an amazing person. For this to happen to him, of all people, it's just like it's still hasn't hit me yet," said Jenna Valencia, student.
Walter was a new student at Anne Arundel County College this year.
The state health department has not confirmed Walter had swine flu. Ten people in Maryland, including two children, have died of swine flu or H1N1 this year.
Click here for more information about the rush to get a vaccine at local clinics.
(© MMX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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© MMX, CBS Corporation. All Rights Reserved.
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